As February dawns here in 2011, that can only mean one thing for baseball fans: Here comes spring training. And with the breath of fresh air and the feeling that only a beginning can supply comes a time when all the questions are going to be tackled...

After 6 long years, the Giants have finally made the playoffs. However, it took 162 games, 5 new starting position players, 3 new bullpen pitchers, a new starting pitcher, an appendectomy, several manly beards, and a lot of torture...

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the magic number is one, and the Padres are coming to town. With the postseason scent filling out nostrils, it is time to take inventory, which provides good information and fun speculation...

Hardly a day goes by when I am not fully engrossed in baseball at this time of the year. Such was the situation once again last Wednesday night, when I settled down to watch Wednesday Night Baseball before the Giants-Dodgers game...